I was raised in Queens Village and remember stores and businesses all up and down Jamaica Avenue and along Springfield Blvd. My family left in ‘62 because my Dad was transferred and I saw that it went downhill for a long time but thought it had come back with the influx of Haitians - hard-working, middle class folks. One friend from there whom I’ve known since kindergarten jokes that I can drink with more people from Queens here in my neighborhood bar in Nashville than if I still lived in Queens.
Where did you go to high school?
The Caribbean immigrants (NOT just from Haiti) stabilized the place, as many were HOME OWNERS and drove many of the HUD families out (mostly down south, some out to Hempstead). The problem is that even the immigrants would prefer a short drive to Green Acres or a slightly longer drive to the nicer Roosevelt Field than shop on the avenues.